DI staffers Danny Payne and Ian Murphy offer their predictions for No. 17 Iowa’s game with No. 20 Northwestern.

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EVANSTON, Illinois — Hello from Ryan Field. We poked fun earlier this week at this place, but I have to hand it to Northwestern, even though it’s very small, the scoreboard and stands and everything are nice, so there’s that.

Here are our predictions for the Oct. 17 game. If you want our exams, here they are.

Danny Payne, Pregame editor

Assuming C.J. Beathard Plays, I like Iowa in this one. I’m not sold on Northwestern, especially after the way it played against Michigan last week. I like the Hawks to get an early score and keep Northwestern in check from there. Give me Iowa, 14-10.

Pick to Click: Jaleel Johnson. The big defensive tackle was everywhere last week, and I don’t see a reason he won’t be against the ‘Cats today. He may not show up in the stat sheet, but make no mistake — he’s crazy-valuable to Iowa.

Ian Murphy, Sports editor

I think Iowa wins this game. Northwestern’s offense is too predicated on the run, and it took until Week 6 of the season for an opponent to score a rushing touchdown on the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes have no reason to hold back with the bye week coming up. Iowa 24, Northwestern 10